This is with the same therapist and at the same time of the same day each week. The aim is to understand your problems at a deeper level. Even short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy requires commitment of between 6-12 months or 25-40 sessions. Longer-term therapy usually lasts between 12-24 months or 40-80 sessions. Sessions last 50 minutes.

We live our lives in groups: the family group, friendship groups, school, work and wider society.  Often our difficulties have developed within the context of these groups, leaving us feeling isolated, rejected, misunderstood and without a sense of belonging.  Our experiences in these groups can also leave us with thoughts and feelings that are puzzling and difficult to make sense of. 

Group therapy is a powerful way of connecting with others and helping us to better understand ourselves, our experiences and relationships. There is an emphasis on how past life experiences are affecting current patterns of relating.  This can help to improve our quality of life and mental wellbeing by developing a stronger, more integrated sense of self and a stronger sense of belonging to the world around us.

Weekly groups take place at the same time of the same day each week.  The minimum commitment of group treatment is 12 months. We recognise it can take people time to find their voice in a group, and for groups to form in a way that is therapeutic for the members. Therefore, our groups are offered for longer than the maximum length of individual therapy that we offer. They can be facilitated by one or two staff members and may have between 6-8 participants. Group sessions typically last 90 minutes.

The Therapeutic Community (TC) is an exciting and innovative therapy which is new to Derby, although it has its roots in the intensive group programme that has been running here since 1994. It provides an opportunity to increase understanding of your psychological, emotional, and social functioning, with the aim of supporting personal development. This is achieved through groupwork and by participating in the community, gradually taking on tasks and responsibilities as your own journey unfolds. Tasks might include chairing community meetings, arranging the chairs for the meeting or taking minutes.

The TC is very different from most therapies in the NHS, and different from the intensive group programme as it is built on a strong ethos of equality and working together.  There is less of a hierarchy and less difference in role between staff and patients. Staff are members of the TC too, and work as part of the community to help members overcome matters that are troubling them. However, they often take more of a back seat and facilitate members helping each other.

The TC meets three times a week.  Here is our current timetable:

TC Timetable

Monday
13:00 – 14:30     Mentalization Based Therapy

Wednesday
10.30 – 11.30     Check In and Community Meeting
11:30 – 12.00     Break and Socialising
12.00 – 1:30       Analytic Group
1:30 – 2:30         Lunch
2.30 – 3.00         Check Out

Friday
09:30 – 9:45       Check In
09:45 – 10:45     Art Group
10:45 – 11:30     Discuss Images
11:30 – 11:45     Break
11:45 – 12:00     Check Out

The Groups

Emotional difficulties can often be traced back to earlier experiences of relationships, which can lead to psychological, relational, and occupational difficulties in the present.

One of the main ways this causes distress is by adversely impacting on current relationships. By getting together in groups we create the opportunity to look, not only at the psychological difficulties themselves, but how they have affected our relationships with others.

Groups also recreate interpersonal experiences from everyday life. Situations will emerge which can be used positively to facilitate a greater understanding of ourselves and others.

A Therapeutic Community provides an opportunity for taking up different roles and working with others. A key part of the Therapeutic Community spirit is having the experience of both giving and receiving care, learning to value what you can bring to others, and what they may bring to you.

The Analytic Group

This is a traditional psychotherapy group, combining psychoanalytic insights (e.g., noticing things that are happening outside of the group’s awareness, or things repeating from past experiences) with an understanding of social and interpersonal functioning.

Community Group

This is a group for all members of the community, including all staff members who are involved in any way. We encourage members to not only value their own therapy journey but to also take an interest and assist other members. It is in this meeting that we discuss absences and assist any member who is struggling to attend or share in community tasks. We discuss any boundary issues, and any other agenda items any member of the community may have.

Art Group

In this group we create an image each which aims to express how we are feeling. We then take time to discuss our images.

Mentalization Based Therapy

In this group we aim to gain insight into how others experience us from the outside and how others may be feeling on the inside. The aim is to improve our social interactions.

Culture of the groups

• Every member is supported to develop, and everyone has different needs, values, and aims

• Every member will speak about themselves at their own pace, as they develop trust in the group

• Every member is supported to develop compassion for their own suffering and the suffering of others, and a wish to work towards the reduction of suffering for all

In addition, we encourage:

• Honest and sensitive sharing of feelings towards staff and other members of the community

• Willingness to consider feedback from the group, even when it may not always match the view the individual has of themselves

• Interest in and acceptance of others

• Support of the cohesiveness of the group

• Compromise and negotiation within the group

Confidentiality

For members to speak freely, they must be confident that all discussions remain in the group. It is therefore important that you do not discuss other members and their lives outside the group sessions with anyone including non-TC staff. It is important that personal issues are not discussed at break times but rather bought to the appropriate group.

Whilst it might be tempting to start or continue discussions from groups in break and lunch time, it is a boundary issue. We do not want members to be burdened by holding anyone else’s confidence. Lunch times and breaks are for having a well-deserved break before the next session.

Breaches of confidentiality will be taken very seriously. A serious breach of confidentiality will result in discharge from the service.

Outside Contact

In the spirit of open communication, you should mention to the community any contacts you have had with members whilst not at the centre. It is expected that you will not plan to meet or contact other members outside of the centre (including social media). This is to preserve a safe environment within which therapy can occur effectively. If you do accidentally bump into another member, be aware of their boundaries (e.g. just say hello and move on). Deliberate contact outside of the group will result in you being discharged from the service.

Members who start a romantic relationship with each other during their time in therapy will be discharged from the service.

Current staff   

Toni Fox, Psychodynamic Psychotherapist
Emily Thomas, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist
Lauren Fuzi, Psychological Therapist